This historic building renovation required 'artist' Byron Veal to restore much of the ornate plaster work

Hal Collums Construction recently completed the renovation of a historic French Quarter property on Royal Street. The building, which at one time had been home to a sugar plantation owner and his family, had seen many occupants within its rooms over the years, but it had not been used as a residence for quite some time.

This building is called the Devéze-Henderson House, and was once the Louisiana French Consulate. In the 1950s-1960s, a law firm operated out of the 2nd floor of the building. And an inspection of the property prior to this renovation revealed much evidence that being used as a commercial property had taken its toll on what had once been an elegant residential interior.

The restoration of the building included new plaster on the walls and ceilings to repair cracks as well as new plaster moldings to match the originals. This specialty craft, and the craftsman, Byron Veal, received recognition in a July 2010 NOLA.com article entitled, New Orleans plasterer at the top of his game.

Additionally, the renovation included a new HVAC system and recessed lighting. The Master Bath was fully renovated and a new Powder Room was added.

Central City Millworks remilled some of the existing cypress flooring and provided additional cypress flooring to match the existing. In the rooms that had no wood flooring, reclaimed heart pine was installed. All flooring was then stained to a uniform color and finish.

The existing doors, which were cypress, were stripped and painted or stained, and Central City Millworks built new custom doors that were stained to match. All of the existing cypress millwork was refurbished and reused.

With the completion of the restoration of this history property, it is once again an elegant French Quarter residence.

In 2008, Hal Collums Construction completed a full renovation of a beautiful uptown cottage.  The house, which was originally built in 1887, had been remodeled previously and had lost some of its original character.  But thanks to a beautiful design, developed by Daniel Zangara at Peter Trapolin Architects, and innovative decoration by the owners, it turned out to be one of the most gorgeous homes we have ever worked on.

This house was featured in The Times Picayune’s Inside Out section last week.  Check it out and you will be amazed by the transformation:

Hal Collums renovation in the Times Picayune

Thank you to Central City Millworks who completed all of the new millwork in the house.

Before...

...After!

Renovation of a New Orleans cottage.

Bathroom renovation

Hal Collums Construction has recently completed a restoration of a beautiful historic home on St Charles Ave.   The house which was built in 1861 is a great example of the Greek Revival style.  It is listed on the National Register of Historic Places and even has a name – The Walker House.

Leah Glade - Project Manager

Working on a property of historic significance is always exciting for us, but it does present its own set of unique challenges.  We must work closely with the architect and the Historic District Landmarks Commission (HDLC) to ensure that any changes made and any details added are true to the history of the house.  Every detail, both interior and exterior, is important.  For example, on this job we went through an extensive design process to ensure that the newly milled interior doors matched the original doors.  The panels, casings, mullions, stiles and rails all were examined to make sure to be completely true to the originals.

We are very proud of this job and plan on posting additional blogs about it in the near future.  In the meantime, please enjoy the following photos of a great New Orleans renovation.

Renovation of a grand New Orleans house

All marble bathroom

Completed double parlor

New Orleans stairwell

Open kitchen area

]]> http://www.halcollums.com/greek-revival-renovation-in-new-orleans/feed/ 0 http://www.halcollums.com/christmas-party/ http://www.halcollums.com/christmas-party/#comments Fri, 01 Jan 2010 18:08:14 +0000 Leah http://www.halcollums.com/?p=1411  

Watching the slideshows

Today we had our annual Hal Collums Construction and Central City Millworks Christmas Party and it was more fun this year than ever.

We started off with lunch catered by Felipe’s – which is a favorite spot among our staff.  Once we ate all of the Quesadillas we could we moved on to the entertainment.

We had a slideshow of pictures from all of the events of the past year as well as some amusing online videos from the website JibJab.com featuring the whole staff.  Next came the part everyone was anxiously waiting for – Secret Santa!

Bryon Cornelison opening his Secret Santa gift

Our staff has a great time planning their surprise gifts for everyone.  The weeks of sneaking around – hiding little treats here and there and trying to figure out who is your Santa are really fun.  So finally at the party all was revealed.

We also received company sweatshirts with our names embroidered on the front.  Now we can stay cozy warm in the winter while showing off our HCC/CCM pride!

After the office party we had a mill shop party for all the employees.  There was pizza, music and of course presents!  Everyone had a great time and now Christmas has really begun!

Hal Collums is presented with the Boss of the Century Award

The staff modeling the new sweatshirts

Whew!  We sure have been having a lot of rain down here!  Whenever a big downpour comes through it always gets me thinking…”I hope none of the job sites are leaking!”  So I spend most of the day after a rainstorm driving from job to job inspecting every window casing, door threshold, and roof for any sign of water intrusion.  Many of the houses we work on are old homes that don’t necessarily have the modern waterproofing that you find in a newly built house.  When we have a storm like we did this past Saturday night, where the winds are strong and the volume of water is high, you will often find small leaks in areas that never had any leaking before.  In that way, it is a good whole house water test.

Source - Times Picayune

Part of our focus at Hal Collums Construction is to provide our customers with quality service and a quality renovation.  So, while it is easy to ignore a small leak that occurs during a major storm and pass it off as a one time thing, we do not treat it that way.  We investigate every problem, no matter how small, and find ways to fix it.

-Leah Collums Glade